Ɛpsilon

To Lawson Tait   6 August 1876

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Aug. 6th 76

My dear Sir

I shall feel much pleased & honoured if I am elected one of your Members, & I beg you to return on my part my best thanks to your Society.—1

I read with interest the article which you were so good as to send me & I agree with the greater part.—2 Under a theological point of view, I cannot however quite agree that the origin of evil is explained by survival. Why shd a small cut cause tetanus or child-birth—or parasitic worms cause so much suffering? Why was not man formed with sympathies extending beyond his—own tribe, so that murder could have been a crime from the earliest period?

I am glad that you have not given up polydactylism.—3

I am Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

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1
In his letter of 4 August [1876], Tait had asked permission to name CD an honorary member of the Birmingham Natural History Society.
2
See letter from Lawson Tait, 4 August [1876] and n. 3. Tait’s article on the evolution of moral life (L. Tait 1876c) has not been found in the Darwin Archive–CUL.
3
See letter from Lawson Tait, 4 August [1876]. Tait had discussed polydactylism in his review of Variation 2d ed. (L. Tait 1876b).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10571,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10571